The present disclosure is generally directed to methods for producing garments and garment designs. More particularly, disclosed are methods for producing figure-flattering garments and garment designs that create an optical illusion of an anatomical feature. The garment designs are created by manipulating a macro scale pattern from nature.
In the clothing industry, it is often desirable to create garments that are figure-flattering. For instance, it may be desirable for the garment to emphasize or enhance certain features of the garment wearer's anatomy, while diminishing or deemphasizing other features. Figure-flattering garments are typically produced by creation and/or selection of a garment template (or style) having figure-flattering features. For example, a swimsuit template may call for an attached skirt to camouflage a wearer's lower abdomen and upper thighs, or may call for gathering of the fabric to emphasize the presence of the wearer's waist. Once a suitable figure-flattering template is created or selected, the garment is cut from a textile having a desired design thereon to produce the figure-flattering garment.
The purpose and function of designs on textiles and garments has evolved over time. The basis for a garment or textile design may come from numerous sources, including the texture, color, tone, and/or shape of an object, or from the imagination of the designer. For example, a garment designer could see a blue flower painted on a physical object and envision the flower's use on a dress, sweater, pants, or swim suit. In other instances, a garment or textile designer may create a design from shapes, lines, images, colors, tones, or texture of artwork that originates from the designer's imagination. However, while garment designs have been used for both ornamental and decorative purposes and to convey aesthetic appeal, they have not been used or manipulated to create the illusion of an anatomical feature of the garment's wearer, or to improve the figure-flattering nature of the garment.
For instance, in some garment production processes, a textile or fabric design is selected from mass-produced (pre-designed and printed) collections from textile manufacturers and the garment is cut from the selected textile or fabric. In these instances, the designs on the textile or fabric used to create the garment are not manipulated in order to create the illusion of an anatomical feature, and/or to enhance or deemphasize an anatomical feature of the garment's wearer.
Advances in computer generated textile printing and 3-D fashion design software have also allowed garment designers to apply their own, in-house designed graphic patterns to textiles and garments, rather than relying solely on textiles offered by manufacturers. However, designs created using in-house designed graphic patterns are typically imprinted on the selected fabric used to create the garment with minimal to no alteration to the design, and without manipulation of the design to create the illusion of an anatomical feature or to enhance or deemphasize an anatomical feature of the garment's wearer. While the design may be engineered to ensure precise arrangement on the printed fabric, e.g., to provide balance, symmetry, maximum cloth usage, and to match up patterns in the finished garment, placement of the design on the fabric typically includes application of the flat design pattern without any alterations or further manipulation.
Some garments use color blocking (i.e., positioning two colors adjacent to each other, where the two colors are opposite one another on a color wheel chart) to form a design on the garment comprising contrasting colors. However, while color blocking keeps a viewer's eye from focusing on one color section, it does not produce a design that creates the illusion of a body shape or form.
It would thus be advantageous to provide an improved method for producing figure-flattering garments and garment designs that create an optical illusion of an anatomical feature, and, in particular, that emphasize and/or deemphasize particular features of the anatomy of the garment's wearer.